Abnormalities of brain structures and neuronal networks have been identified in MRI studies of patients with Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) as well as in those at elevated risk. The goal of this study was to identify common patterns of objectively detected brain glucose metabolic abnormalities associated with SUDEP patients and those at high SUDEP risk.
Patients with refractory epilepsy (n?=?78, age 16-61?years, 44 females), who underwent comprehensive presurgical evaluation, were assessed for their risk of SUDEP using the revised SUDEP-7 inventory. From the 57 patients with low SUDEP risk, 35 were selected to match their demographic and clinical characteristics to those with high SUDEP risk (n?=?21). [F]fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) abnormalities were evaluated in the high- and low-SUDEP risk subgroups compared to FDG-PET scans of a healthy adult control group using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Individual FDG-PET scans of 4 additional patients, who died from SUDEP, were also analyzed by SPM.
Mean SUDEP-7 score was 6.1 in the high and 2.7 in the low SUDEP risk group. MRI showed no lesion in 36 patients (64%). Statistical parametric mapping analysis of the high SUDEP risk subgroup showed bilateral medial frontal and inferior frontal hypometabolism as a common pattern. The low-risk group showed no specific common metabolic abnormalities on SPM group analysis. Individual PET scans of all 4 patients who died from SUDEP also showed bilateral frontal lobe hypometabolism.
These data show that bilateral frontal lobe involvement on FDG-PET, especially the medial and inferior frontal cortex, may be a common metabolic pattern associated with high SUDEP risk and SUDEP itself, in patients with refractory focal epilepsy.
These data show that bilateral frontal lobe involvement on FDG-PET, especially the medial and inferior frontal cortex, may be a common metabolic pattern associated with high SUDEP risk and SUDEP itself, in patients with refractory focal epilepsy.Sensory stimuli can induce seizures in patients with epilepsy and predisposed subjects. Visual stimuli are the most common triggers, provoking seizures through an abnormal response to light or pattern. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/bpv-hopic.html Sensitive patients may intentionally provoke their seizures through visual stimuli. Self-induction methods are widely described in photo-sensitive patients, while there are only a few reports of those who are pattern-sensitive. We analyzed 73 images of environmental visual triggers collected from 14 pattern-sensitive patients with self-induced seizures. The images were categorized according to their topics 29 Objects (43%); 19 Patterns (28%); 15 External scenes (22%); 4 TV or computer screens (6%). Six photos were of poor quality and were excluded from analysis. Images were analyzed by an algorithm that calculated the degree to which the Fourier amplitude spectrum differed from that in images from nature. The algorithm has been shown to predict discomfort in healthy observers. The algorithm identified thirty-one images (46%) as "uncomfortable". There were significant differences between groups of images (ANOVA p?=?.0036; Chi2 p? less then ?.0279), with higher values of difference from nature in the images classified as "Objects" (mean 6,81E+11; SD 6,72E+11; n.17, 59%) and "Pattern" (mean 9,05E+11; SD 6,86E+11; n.14, 74%). During the semi-structured face-to-face interviews, all patients described the visual triggers as 'uncomfortable'; the appearance of enjoyable visual epileptic symptoms (especially multi-colored hallucinations) transformed uncomfortable images into pleasant stimuli. Patients considered self-induction as the simplest and most effective way to overcome stressful situations, suggesting that self-inducing pattern-sensitive patients often use uncomfortable visual stimuli to trigger their seizures. Among the reasons for the self-inducing behavior, the accidental discovery of pleasurable epileptic symptoms related to these "uncomfortable" visual stimuli should be considered.We investigated felt stigma in seizure-free persons with epilepsy with regard to associated factors and its impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL).
This cross-sectional study included 81 patients who had been seizure free for at least 2?years and 52 controls who had only had one seizure in the last 2?years. All patients completed the Stigma Scale, Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 (QOLIE-31), short form of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-RS), Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and the enacted stigma questionnaire.
The proportion of felt stigma was not significantly different between controls (25%) and patients in seizure remission (21%). A stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that enacted stigma and higher EPQ-RS Neuroticism scores were more likely to be associated with felt stigma of patients in remission. Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 scores were significantly higher in patients in seizure remission than in coonality trait were the most important correlates of felt stigma for these patients. Health-related quality of life was significantly better in patients in remission than in patients with rare seizures. Felt stigma was not a significant or independent factor associated with worse HRQoL in patients in remission.An assessment of the comparative incidence of fatal or disabling stroke may influence choice of intervention for patients with severe aortic stenosis. We explored whether transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is associated with a lower incidence of fatal or disabling stroke, compared to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR).
We classified stroke into two categories; fatal or disabling, or non-disabling, and completed meta-analyses for each. We explored randomised controlled trials to assess the effect publication year, predicted operative risk, and route of TAVI access.
There was no difference between treatment groups per 100 person years of follow up for disabling or non-disabling stroke outcomes. In a stratified analysis by year of publication, there was a lower rate of fatal or disabling stroke with TAVI in trials published after 2015, compared to those published in 2015 or before (p-interaction=0.01 at 30 days). Higher proportions of transfemoral route access (&gt;90%), more common in recent trials, were associated with a lower rate of fatal or disabling stroke (p-interaction=0.